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Please HONOR the copyright of these documents by not retransmitting or making any additional copies in any form (Except for private personal use). We appreciate your respectful cooperation. ___________________________ Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) P.O. Box 30183 Portland, Oregon 97294 USA Website: www.tren.com E-mail: rwjones@tren.com Phone# 1-800-334-8736 ___________________________ Ministry Focus Paper Approval Sheet This ministry focus paper entitled A TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY FOR MEN THROUGH THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT AT COMMUNITY COVENANT CHURCH Written by MARK MEREDITH and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry has been accepted by the Faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary upon the recommendation of the undersigned readers: _____________________________________ John Hull _____________________________________ Kurt Fredrickson Date Received: May 9, 2012 A TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY FOR MEN THROUGH THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT AT COMMUNITY COVENANT CHURCH A TRAINING MANUAL PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY MARK MEREDITH APRIL 2012 ABSTRACT A Transformational Journey for Men through the Sermon on the Mount at Community Covenant Church Mark Meredith Doctor of Ministry School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary 2012 The purpose of this paper and the attached training manual is to provide a transformational men’s ministry experience at Community Covenant Church in Eagle River, Alaska. A two-year journey through the Sermon on the Mount is used as the vehicle for this transformation. The thesis is that the cultural confusion regarding what it means to be male needs to be addressed in the discipleship of men. It is further argued that a lack of clear emphasis on discipleship in churches can be overcome by employing the Sermon on the Mount as a curriculum for making male disciples. This discussion is presented in three sections. Part One explores the historical context of male discipleship in churches in North America and pays particular attention to the confusion of male identity and roles in both church and home. The cultural context of men at Community Covenant Church then is examined in light of this and how they are similar to men in North America in general. Five struggles for these men are identified which are similar to the struggles of most men in North American culture. The discussion then transitions into theology. It is argued that “essential masculinity” is beyond social construction and is modeled in the person of Jesus Christ. Four callings of manhood are identified, and a three-part model for transformation is presented. Finally, the Sermon on the Mount is examined as a vehicle for male discipleship and transformation. Part Two is concerned with transformational goals, learning environments for men, an effective learning template, pedagogy, and assessment. This is followed by a sample of the Mountain Men material in the appendix. It is hoped that this guide will be transferrable to the broader North American Church. Content Reader: John Hull, DMin Words: 285 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE: CONTEXT AND THEOLOGY Chapter 1. THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTEXT: HISTORY AND ISSUES 11 Chapter 2. THE CONTEXT OF MEN AT COMMUNITY COVENANT CHURCH 34 Chapter 3. A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON BIBLICAL MASCULINITY 54 Chapter 4. A THEOLOGY OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION FOR MEN 79 PART TWO: GOALS, STRATEGY, AND IMPLEMENTATION Chapter 5. SPIRITUAL FORMATION GOALS FOR MEN 111 Chapter 6. THE LEARNING TEMPLATES AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS 131 Chapter 7. IMPLEMENTATION, MAINTENANCE AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 153 CONCLUSION 165 APPENDIX: “MOUNTAIN MEN CLIMBER’S GUIDE” 169 BIBLIOGRAPHY 181 iii INTRODUCTION Many in today’s culture are confused about what masculinity is. Author Leanne Payne begins her book, Crisis in Masculinity, by quoting someone who says, “I don’t think anyone knows what masculinity is.”1 No one seems to have a definition that functions in culture, and few have clarity for themselves. British social commentator Roy McCloughry agrees. He states that while women have found a way to talk about themselves with the advent of 1960s’ feminism, men are often at a loss to know how to self-identify. Consequently, they resort to stereotypes which do not describe who they are as men.2 At the same time, according to Christian philosopher Dallas Willard—who has written broadly on spiritual transformation—most Christians today are confused about their identity as well. Many do not know what it means to be a disciple. Discipleship is seen as an option for the Christian rather than as what it means to be a Christian.3 In this confusion, Willard says that there is a lack of intention and method regarding the making of disciples.4 Christians often settle for non-transforming substitutes, such as external conformity of behavior or accurate profession of doctrine.5 1 Leanne Payne, Masculinity in Crisis (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1985), 9-10. 2 Roy McCloughry, Men and Masculinity: From Power to Love (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1992), 6-7. 3 Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (San Francisco: Harper, 1998), 291. 4 Ibid., 297-299, 313-316. 5 Ibid., 320. 1 In light of these two trends, male discipleship is elusive. For this reason, the purpose of this project and the accompanying training manual is to explore and answer the question of what masculine discipleship is with a clarity that can become the basis for transformation in men’s lives today. In particular, this paper addresses the question of male discipleship in the context of Community Covenant Church in Eagle River, Alaska. The men of this congregation are and will be using the attached training manual, which is a two-year discipleship journey through the Sermon on the Mount called “Mountain Men.” As the senior pastor of Community Covenant Church, I have been leading the men through this two-year discipleship journey. It is my hope that by addressing the question of masculine discipleship in a local context, this will prove to be helpful in other settings. The questions Payne raises about masculinity and those that Willard poses about discipleship have led me to the Sermon on the Mount as a potentially rich resource for the discipleship of men. The topics of gender clarity and discipleship are extremely relevant to men today. Men need to know what it means to be masculine and also what it means to follow Christ as a man. The Sermon is also for women, but men can experience it differently. Even research shows that men and women often relate to and experience the first three topics of the Sermon (anger, lust, and marriage) in different ways.6 This paper will address the confusion regarding masculinity and discipleship. The sources of confusion on gender are ancient and diverse. Genesis 1 through 3 shows that from the beginning, the identities and roles of men and women were defined in 6 Shaunti Feldhahn, For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2004), 21-25, 109-118. 2 relationship to each other, both before and after the fall.7 The Industrial Revolution brought gender role shifts to Western culture, as men left home for factories.8 The movement known as second-wave feminism,9 a reaction against patriarchal assumptions and norms in culture, which began in the 1960s, continues to leave masculinity in confusion today. Feminist Susan Faludi writes: “If my travels have taught me anything about the two sexes, it is that each of our struggles depends on the success of the other’s.”10 It is not surprising that as women’s identities and roles have shifted, it has affected men’s understanding of who they are. Complicating this confusion is postmodern culture, which resists providing clear answers that are true for everyone.11 This is the social milieu in which the question of masculinity is being asked. As a result, gender definitions compete from every perspective with little more than the politics of power and persuasion employed in defining them. The question of nature versus nurture has been decided firmly in favor of 7 Tom Smail, Like Father, Like Son: The Trinity Imaged in Our Humanity (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 50-56. 8 Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, My Brother’s Keeper: What the Social Sciences Do (and Don’t) Tell Us About Masculinity (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002), 152-53. 9 Ibid., 161-163. Van Leeuwen’s definition roughly states that first-wave feminism was in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and focused on legal rights for women. Second-wave feminism began in the mid-1960s and focused on politics, commerce, and higher education. 10 Susan Faludi, Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Male (New York: Morrow, 1999), 605. 11 Stanley J. Grenz, A Primer for Postmodernism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 39-56. 3 nurture, as meaning is culturally determined. Masculinity and femininity are being viewed as social constructs only, without any essential underlying meaning.12 In addition to this confusion from outside the Christian faith, there has been a contentious conversation going on inside the evangelical Christian world since the 1970s. This debate is about the interpretation and application of biblical texts relating to gender. Both sides have their verses and play what theologian Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen calls “proof-text poker,” meaning that each side has a group of biblical texts in hand and play those texts against those of the opposing side. The assumption has been that the one with the fullest hand will win the argument.13 The feminist side has come dangerously close at times to collapsing all differences between male and female into the category of degendered or androgynous humanity.